A new angle on your favorite moments with Google Clips

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We love photos and videos. They take us back to a special time with our friends and family. Some of our favorites are genuine shots that capture the essence of the moment.

The trouble is, getting those spontaneous shots means that someone has to be the “designated photographer”—always waiting to snap a photo at just the right moment. I would have loved more images of me holding my kids, Clark and Juliet, when they were newborns, but because my wife and I had our hands full, these moments got away from us.

At Google, we’ve been working on a new type of camera that lets you capture more of these special moments, while allowing yourself also to be in the moment.

Today we’re introducing Google Clips, a lightweight, hands-free camera that helps you capture more genuine and spontaneous moments of the people—and pets!—who matter to you. You can set the camera down on the coffee table when the kids are goofing around or clip it to a chair to get a shot of your cat playing with its favorite toy. There’s also a shutter button—both on the camera and in the corresponding app—so you can capture other moments or subjects, whatever you please.

Google Clips is small, weighs almost nothing, and comes with a clip to hold it steady.

We’ve put machine learning capabilities directly into Clips so when you turn it on, the camera looks for good moments to capture. Clips looks for stable, clear shots of people you know. You can help the camera learn who is important to you so when grandma comes in town, you’ll capture the grand entrance.

The camera shoots short motion photos that last several seconds. As you probably guessed, we call these “clips.”

Your clips sync wirelessly and in seconds from the camera to the Google Clips app for Android or iOS. Simply swipe to save or delete your clips, or choose an individual frame to save as a high-resolution still photo. You can view and organize anything you’ve saved in Google Photos (or your favorite gallery app). And if you’re using Google Photos, you can backup unlimited clips for free.

We know privacy and control really matter, so we’ve been thoughtful about this for Clips users, their families, and friends. Clips was designed and engineered with these principles in mind.

It looks like a camera, and lights up when it's on so everyone knows what Clips does and when it’s capturing.

It works best when used at home with family and close friends. As you capture with Clips, the camera learns to recognize the faces of people that matter to you and helps you capture more moments of them.

Finally, all the machine learning happens on the device itself. And just like any point-and-shoot, nothing leaves your device until you decide to save it and share it.

Google Clips is coming soon to the U.S. for $249. In this first edition, Clips is designed specifically with parents and pet owners in mind. It works best with Pixel, and also works with Samsung S7/8 and on iPhone (6 and up).

We hope Google Clips helps you capture more spontaneous moments in life, without any of the hassle.